ilford 500 and versa lab alignment laser

[wager123]

I also asked this on APUG
I am confused as to how to use the laser alignment tool from versa labs with my ilford 500 system . the problem is that I get several reflective dots when I use it, I have found that by removing the mixing box fixes the problem so the material in the bottom part must cause the problem. so my question is do I just align the enlarger with the mixing box part removed ? has anyone else used this with Ilford head and had this happen ? your thoughts appreciated
Mitch

[Luis-F-S]

Already answered on Apug

[MartinP]

The mutliple reflection problem is most likely from when the beam bounces around things which you are not trying to actually align. Put a piece of paper in the neg-carrier, therebye limiting the reflection to only the bottom glass of the carrier and obviating the need to dismantle the head (which could potentially affect the head/carrier/lens alignment). One should align the carrier and lens stage separately of course, so the the glass in the neg-carrier and the supplied glass-slide placed across the lens (or lens mount) are the two reflective surfaces that enable this.

[wager123]

yes this has been answered thanks to all I just wonder why it doesn't say anything in instructions

[MartinP]

yes this has been answered thanks to all I just wonder why it doesn't say anything in instructions


In the instructions, within the section "Lens reflector", one reads the following...

"One of the small reflectors has a paper label on one side (use as the back side) which prevents additional reflections from glass parts behind the reflector - such as the lens elements or condensers. If this trouble occurs with the other reflectors, any nearly opaque material from paper to tape can be used to prevent it."

The instructions are not the best written, but the suggestion is there. The Parallel is really useful when aligning ad-hoc arrangements (horizontal projection or with a reversed column, for example) as well as for the hopefully infrequent task of setting up the enlarger to be square.

[wager123]

thanks one and all for your thoughts.
mitch